


Sepulchra

by Flameroyalty



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series), Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe, Camp camp au, Miraculous AU, Miraculous Ladybug AU, Origins, Wow only took you literally months to write this bullshit, let plagg say fuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-16
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-13 04:43:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16010531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flameroyalty/pseuds/Flameroyalty
Summary: “We made Gwen so mad that she turned purple, started floating, and is currently electrocuting kids into being as sad and depressing as she is. Then this girl swung in and hit her. Then Gwen knocked her out of the sky and she told me she needed me to take her to an island. That’s all I know but I think she’s the only thing that can stop Gwen. So can you just take me to the fucking island?”(AKA My friend made an AU and I promised her a fic, what feels like maybe a year ago.)





	Sepulchra

If you had told Max this morning that David wasn’t going to be coming in today, he would’ve been thrilled. If you followed it up by saying that the substitute would end up turning purple, floating, and shooting lightning from her fingers, he would be slightly less excited. If you finished it off by telling him he’d be hiding under his desk and worrying about his friends, he’d almost be angry.

They’d had Gwen as a substitute before. She wasn’t the worst. She usually spent the day doing her own work and trying not to fall asleep. She let them get away with a lot more than David did, but wasn’t afraid to yell at them when they pushed her too far. Max liked Gwen, she understood him.

However, Max wasn’t sure what her problem was today. He’d asked her if David only called when he wanted her to cover for him but didn’t even get a snarky answer. He didn’t get any kind of answer at all.  She just closed her textbook, stood up, and walked out of the classroom. Max was used to being screamed out, but this reaction made him almost concerned.

A few minutes later, she stormed back into the room. Literally. She’d turned a dark purple and was hovering on a mass of clouds of the same color. Max had only been scared very few times in his life and this was creeping it’s way to the top of the list.

He was used to angry Gwen but this was ridiculous. She was calling herself Sepulchra now.

He turned to check on Neil just in time to watch him get hit by lightning. He expected his friend to fall to the ground, or at least smell a little burnt. Instead, he just sat down and put his head in his hands. Max had seen this behaviour in Neil before and it was only when he was really upset.

“What the fuck?” Max muttered under his breath as he looked at Sepulchra.

“I’m sick of dealing with you brats!” She yelled to no one in particular.

Her gaze falls on Max. Her scowl deepened, and she glared at him. He wasn’t an idiot, Max knew this was his fault. He’d been the one to push her too far, it was no surprise to him when the lightning was aimed in his direction. When Max showed no reaction and felt no different, he and Sepulchra shared a confusion.

“What?” She exclaimed.

Max, unscathed, answered, “I’ve dealt with worse I guess.”

“Impossible!”

“Look, why don’t you try one of them?” Max pointed at a group of classmates. Neil seemed unharmed other than some general depression, so he felt no guilt throwing the other students under the bus. Not that he would’ve in the first place.

“What the hell Max!” One of the students shouted at him. Max shrugged.

Sepulchra shot him an ugly look and floated past him. He quickly looked around to see if he could find Nikki. She wasn’t the type to be quiet in a situation like this. Where was she?

Just as the thought passed through his mind, a girl swung into the room Spiderman style. She was dressed in red and covered in black spots. As she entered the room, she knocked into Sepulchra, and made her miss the student she was aiming at.

“Sepulchra!” the girl yelled, “My name is Ladybug and I can’t let you keep doing this to my friends!”

“And you’re going to stop me,” the purple woman asked with a laugh.

 As easy as she got Neil, she shot Ladybug midair with more lightning. Max watched as the pseudo superhero fell from the sky and hit the ground. She didn’t move. He wasn’t sure why, but he cared, a lot. He had found himself rushing over to check if she was okay. He checked if she was burnt, but nothing. How the hell did this lightning shit work?

She turned to face him and tried to smile, but it was obvious that the shot was taking affect, “Max.”

“How the fuck do you know my name?” he answered.

“Not important. You have to-” she closed her eyes and sighed. She was struggling to fight the sadness.

“It is important, who are you?”

“You have to take me to the island.”

“Island? What the hell are you talking about?”

“He’ll explain everything.”

“Who?” Max screamed at her.

It pushed her too far. Ladybug started crying. Max wasn’t good at emotions, his own or others. He had no idea what to do. He looked around to see if anyone could offer any help, but everyone was either distracted by their own misery or being terrorized by Sepulchra.

Max groaned, “Oh for fucks sakes.”

He pulls Ladybug up by her arms and starts to guide her out of the room. He gets her out of the building but was met by another issue. There was only one island he could think of that she would’ve been talking about. It wasn’t too far out of town, but how the hell was he supposed to get her there?

From behind Max“Hey there Max,” followed by a sneeze.

“David?” Max exclaimed. “Why are you here?”

“Well I thought I would drop in to check how Gwen was doing.” David sniffled. “Who’s this? Is she okay?”

If he didn’t have a crying girl gripping his arm, Max would’ve laughed and told David to see how that goes. Unfortunately for him, he did, and needed help. He hated everything about this. He was helping people, and now he had to ask David for help?

“David?”

“Yes Max?” David looked concerned.

Max took a deep breath, “Could you help me get to the island outside of town?”

“What?”

“We made Gwen so mad that she turned purple, started floating, and is currently electrocuting kids into being as sad and depressing as she is. Then this girl swung in and hit her. Then Gwen knocked her out of the sky and she told me she needed me to take her to an island. That’s all I know but I think she’s the only thing that can stop Gwen. So can you just take me to the fucking island?”

David stood there, silent, for a few seconds. A scream came from the school behind them. David looked back at him and Ladybug. He felt Ladybug loosen her grip on his arm. She sniffled and spoke up.

“Please David,” she managed.

David smiled softly, “Okay. Get in the car.”

In a manner of minutes David had dropped them off at the lake, insisted they stay safe, and told them he was going back to help the kids at the school. Max was rowing him and Ladybug across the lake to the island. Why did he decide now of all times to start caring about people?

“Okay, we made it to the island. Bye” Max said. He waited for her to get off and probably go into the house. Why was it so much darker here than in the city?

“You have to come.” She spoke for the first time since they left the school.

“What? No! I brought you to the island. That’s all you said I had to do.”

“Max.” She started to sob again.

Max rolled his eyes, “Fine!”

He got out of the boat and helped her out. She leads him into the house. It was dark. Really dark. Barely any light coming from the windows. The place clearly hadn’t been used in decades. Cobwebs everywhere. In the little light there was, Max could make out a hallway and a large staircase. There was an odd stillness that Max couldn’t shake.

“Jasper!” Ladybug yelled into the empty house. It echoed. It was one of the loneliest sounds he’d ever heard.

“What are you doing? There’s no one here.” Max said. He shifted to get a better grasp on her.

“Jasper!” She yelled louder. Max rolled his eyes. This was completely useless.

“You called?” A voice came from behind the pair.

Max turned his head and saw a figure standing merely a foot or two away from him. They were about the same size and age. What was a kid doing here? How did he get here? How did Max not hear him? Max turned him and Ladybug so they were facing the boy.

“Jasper.” Ladybug reached out for the boy. Weak from the attack, her arm fell. She struggled again, “Jasper.”

Jasper looked at Max, concerned, “What happened?”

“Why does everyone keep asking me? She got shot by lightning and now she’s like, this. She told me you could fix her. You’re supposed to be telling me what’s going on. That’s the whole reason I dragged her here.”

“Wait here.” Jasper had a determined look on his face.

“What?” Max was getting tired of this. Of being left in the dark. He didn’t even want to be here. Why did he have to be the one to deal with this crap?

Jasper starts climbing the stairs, “Just wait here. You aren’t going to be able to carry her upstairs.”

“Would you just tell me what the fuck is going on?” Max yelled. “I just want to know what the hell is happening! Who are you? Whose house is this? Is she going to die? What happened to Gwen?”

Max felt a slight shift in the air.  Jasper turned but remained on the same step of the staircase. He closed his eyes and let out a small sigh. When he opened them again, he began to speak.  

“Max. I’ll explain when I get back. I know this is a lot to try to understand so quickly. Trust me, I really do know. I will tell you everything when I get back, but if Ladybug is going to have any chance of getting out of this alive, I need to hurry. Can you please wait another few minutes?”

Max huffed, “Fine!”

Jasper rushed up the stairs. Ladybug, since he knew that was her name now, began to grow heavier on his shoulder. She was going limp in his arms and dragging them both down to the floor.

“No, no, no. You are not doing this now.” Max gripped her harder and kept them standing.

“Max. I’m just so tired.”

“Jasper’s coming back. Just hold on a few more minutes okay? You’re going to be fine.”

Why did he suddenly go so soft when it came to her?

“Promise?” She was beginning to cry again.

Max groaned, “I promise.”

She gave him the first smile he’s seen from her the whole day. He wanted her to win. Not just because someone needed to, but he wanted specifically Ladybug to win. He believed in her.

“Max.” Jasper’s voice came from a room off the hallway. Max could barely make out his figure from the doorway. “Can you come here?”

“You want me to leave her?” Max found himself suddenly not wanting to abandon her.

“Trust me. Just let her down gently.” Jasper reassured him, then disappeared into the room.

Max looked at Ladybug. He didn’t want to let go of her, but he knew that if he was going to have any chance of figuring out what the fuck was going on, this was it. He had to take it. He lowered her to the floor, so she was sitting. It took some convincing, but he managed to get her to let go of him.

He reluctantly walked away from her and towards the room Jasper was in. Jasper was standing in the middle of the room, holding something in his hands. It was still dark in the house so it was hard to see. He tried to figure out what room he was in but his best guess was that it was a library. He walked up to Jasper, his arms shoved in his hoodie pocket again.

“Are you finally going to explain something to me?” Max snapped.

“Yes. This is for you.” Jasper held out what Max could now see was a brown box. It had a complex red design on the top and he was almost sure it started to glow a little when he took it.

“This isn’t helping.”

“Ladybug can’t keep fighting alone. I thought she could. She showed so much promise, and while she does, it’s not enough. She needs a partner Max.”

“Um, what?”

Jasper continued, “Max, you’ve already shown the instinct, you got her here. I’m sure you’re aware of how difficult of a challenge that was. You showed the care needed for this.”

Max tried to hold in a laugh, “You got the wrong guy.”

“Excuse me?”

“Jasper. That’s your name, right? Look. I’m not some sort of crime fighter. This is pretty much the first time I’ve cared about another person in years and that’s because I think anyone would want to help someone literally dying in their arms. I’m not the type to go around saving people from shit like what messed up Ladybug. That’s just not who I am okay? You’ve clearly made mistakes before, and this is another one.”

Max tried to hand the box back to Jasper but he refused to take it.

“Max. I see the same thing in you that I saw in Ladybug. You have the potential to do some real good.”

Max rolled his eyes, “Not my style.”

Jasper sighed, “Your power is that you get to destroy stuff.”

Max paused, “Fine. How do I get the stupid box open?”

“You just open it. I’m going to go check on Wayzz.” Jasper walked past him.

“Wait who’s Wayzz?” Max turned to ask Jasper but he was already gone.

He looked down at the box again. It wasn’t very big. Not nearly big enough to hold any kind of costume or weapon. Maybe it was a key to the real box or something? Either way, this was the moment. He took a deep breath and opened the box.

A flash of light lit up the room. The darkness of the house had begun to become familiar so the sudden burst of light startled Max. He rubbed his eyes with his free hand and could tell the light had disappeared. In its place was a small floating creature. With the light gone, it was difficult again to make out any kind of shape. With the little light from the windows, he could tell it was a black, almost cat like thing.

“What the fuck are you?” Max wasn’t sure if he should try to touch it or back away from it.

“Oh, man. I haven’t had a Chat with a vocabulary like that in forever. It’s refreshing. Name’s Plagg. What’s yours?”

“You. Talk?” Max managed.

“Yep! You better get used to that because I will be doing that a lot. Where are we? Is there anything to eat? I’m starving.”

Max watched as the small thing flew around the room. He had to admit, this was not at all what he was expecting. This also didn’t answer a single one of his questions.

Max repeated, “What are you?”

Plagg flew right up to Max’s face, “I’m a kwamii. I’m what gives you your powers.”

“What so you’re like, magic or some shit?”

“Pretty much.”

“How does it work?”

“Well you have to put the ring on.”

“What ring?”

“The one in the box you’re holding?”

Max looked down at the box again, “Oh shit.”

Inside was a small black ring with a green logo paw print on it. It wasn’t exactly something he’d wear but he didn’t absolutely hate it. He took it from the box and slipped it onto his finger.

“How you say ‘Claws Out’, I transform you, and we get on with the show.” Plagg finished.

Max chuckled, “There is no way you could ever get me to say that.”

“Look Kid, I don’t make the rules. This is just how it works. Now say it before Ladybug gets here.”

“Why?”

“Because she’s bound to show up any minute and the rules say you’re not supposed to know each other’s identities.”

“Wouldn’t it make more sense to know, in case one of us is in trouble?”

“It’s a safety measure. Now just say it so we can get this party started.

Max took the ring out of box and simply held it in his hands. Once he put this ring on, that was it. It wasn’t like he could just take it off after today, say ‘no thanks’, and move on with his life. This was so far out of anything he could’ve imagined. This was actual magic, not the show stuff Harrison does.

He would have real powers. He would have real responsibility. He wouldn’t be just a normal kid anymore. Not like he ever was. People wouldn’t even have to know it was him, so it’s not like they can blame him if something goes wrong, nor would he get any unwanted attention.

This was a big decision. Far too big for a fucking kid to have to make. Having to save everyone all the time, putting his life on the line for people he didn’t even care about? What’s the point? What have they ever done for him?

From the hallway, he heard the small whimpers of Ladybug. He thought about Neil. How scared he was. How easy it would be to lose his only friends if these assholes got any more dangerous. He thought about Nikki and her ability to get herself into trouble, where had she gone when everything turned to shit? Was she safe?

“What are we doing kid?” Plagg flew around Max’s head, clearly impatient. The kwami’s voice cut through his thoughts like a knife.

Max hated the idea of it all but fuck it. It was magic and someone had to look out for his friends.

“Plagg. Claws out.”


End file.
